Balance is Something Fragile
by mewhaku
Summary: This takes place after the events of the film. Now that their mission is 'over', why are they here? The battle for life is over. Defending it is now the problem. Some 7x9. Because its sorta canon. And at this point, y'know, read and find out.
1. Prologue A Poem

_~Balance is Something Fragile~_

_ -And it may never be found. –_

_ ~But it doesn't mean you should stop looking._

_ -In the darkest night. _

_ -In the palest dawn.-_

_ ~Gaze out upon the wasteland, and search~_

_- Memories may fade away, _

_ ~Emotions distant._

_ -Joy fleeting, a mirage-_

_ ~Balance may be fragile._

_-But it will return.-_

_~And shatter into shadow once again._

_9._

_---_

* * *

_**Note: A short poem prologue.**_


	2. Broken Night

_~Balance is Something Fragile~_

_-And it may never be found. –_

_~But it doesn't mean we should stop looking~_

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* * *

"_One must be sacrificed for the good of many."_

"_Get out of the way! We don't know what it does!"_

"_Run Away!"_

"_Find the Source!"_

"_..."_

_-------------------------------------------------------_

"_Why must we pay the price for the past? They've left us nothing but a broken world."_

"_A broken world and a barren wasteland… are we all doomed to __**die?"**_

* * *

9's optics widened in shock as he jolted from his 'dreams'. Stitch-punks did not need to sleep, but they tended to fall into a dream-like state if they stayed still for awhile.

The events of the last few days, the first week of his 'life', replayed in his head.

9 remembered that after 3, 4, 7, and he had lit the pyres of the other's 'graves', he went to 'sleep' with them, and he had 'dreams' of the last thoughts of the others.

Well, 1's thoughts anyway. The others had been exclaiming their thoughts as they 'died'.

9 didn't realize that 1 had reasons as to why he'd been so cold to the others. It had seemed that 1 was lost from the moment he 'awoke'. He had been untrusting of the Scientist, their creator, and he had gone out alone into the cold, cruel world.

He alone had truly experienced what the humans had done to themselves.

The killing, the war, the mindless violence: it all could've been avoided if not for the Chancellor's greed.

9 gazed out from under the overhanging he, 3, 4, and 7, were living from at the moment. The rain hadn't stopped since the days before.

The world was renewing itself, it seemed to him, and yet, thoughts of the past plagued him.

He looked back at the little pile the other three made. He was with them for a little while that night, and the spot next to 7 was empty, he didn't want to wake them once he started having the 'dreams' again.

9 smiled despite himself, he was thankful he still had them.

"_It's strange… the only fact that we exist is because of all of the pain and greed of others… We were made only to renew what was lost. It seems that we don't really have any reason to exist now, do we?"_ he thought.

His optics narrowed. That one question kept appearing in his thoughts. He hadn't told the others, since it would only cause them worry. After all, it was his curiosity that had revived the Fabrication Machine in the first place… he didn't want them to remember that.

9 shut his optics as thought about that event.

"_Why, why did I ever place the talisman into that machine… why did 2 save me? I killed the one who saved me, all of them who saved me…"_

9 sighed.

He still didn't know how 7 was able to forgive him for everything he'd done. The twins, they were upset, but they weren't able to communicate it very well. 3 and 4 had just been lost in books ever since the others were 'burned'.

"_U_h…" 7 groaned as she rolled over.

9 looked back. 7 seemed to be restless; her arms were searching for something not there.

9 got up and went back to his spot in the 'bed'. The twins were curled up around each other as usual.

He lay down, 7 woke up for a moment.

"Where... were you..?" she asked groggily.

"Just getting some air 7, sorry I woke you up. Let's just get some 'sleep'." 9 said.

She looked at him for a moment.

"It wasn't your fault 9… You were born curious, you couldn't change that. Get some 'sleep'."

7 closed her optics and hugged 9.

"_She's making sure I don't get up again, huh… I might as well get some 'shut-eye' as humans would've called it."_ 9 thought.

The 'bed' became silent, and the stitch-punks slept.

The rain continued, silently, and the moon started to shine through the dust-filled skies for the first time since the earth had been ravaged.

9 wasn't plagued by his 'dreams' again that night.

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**_Note: Wow. Two updates one day. I surprise myself. R+R please. ^_^_**


	3. Rains

_~Balance is Something Fragile~_

_-And it may never be found. –_

_ ~But it doesn't mean we should stop looking~_

_

* * *

_

* * *

"_Mmph…" _7 rolled off of 9.

9 woke up as well.

"Good morning, 9." 7 said sleepily.

"Good morning, to you, 7." 9 said in reply. He seemed a bit happier than he had been last night.

"I see you decided to stick around." 7 got up and stretched. She looked over at the twins; they were still sleeping, curled around each other.

"I suppose they're still sleeping, 7?" 9 asked as he blinked his optics in the light.

"Yeah, I think they're tired from all of the information they recorded yesterday." 7 said.

9 got up and walked over to 7.

"Oh yeah, they found a bunch of books here yesterday, didn't they?" 9 said.

"Yeah, they recorded it all yesterday though, I think we'll have to go look for another area with books, otherwise they'll become restless." 7 said as she looked outside their encampment.

The rain was still falling outside, and although it was lighter now, 7 didn't look very happy about having to go out in the wet weather. 3, 4, 7, and 9, after they had gotten wet when the rains started, realized that their bodies were definitely not made to repel water. It made them sluggish since their fabric soaked up the water, their gears would start to rust (prompting them to search for some oil), and it would interfere with 3 and 4's circuitry. The twins were not happy when they couldn't communicate with one another.

"I guess we'll have to make an umbrella then, won't we." 9 laughed.

His burlap material repelled water a bit better than 7's material, but he still didn't like to get wet. The twins were made from gardening gloves, so they were mostly immune; it was their eyes that were the main problem.

"_Flicker, flicker, flick –"_

"_Flicker, flicker, flicker…"_

"I think they've gotten up." 7 said. She went to walk over to their sleeping area, and saw 3 and 4 flickering rapidly at each other.

"What are you two talking about anyway?" 7 asked.

9 walked over to her and the twins.

"You two look a bit, excited, I guess." 9 said.

"_Flicker, flicker, flicker, flick!"_ 3 flicked.

"_Flicker, flicker, flick."_ 4 flicked.

"Why don't you just show us, you know we can't understand your flickering." 7 laughed. The twins always seemed to forget that she and 9 couldn't understand them.

"_If only the Creator would've given them speech boxes_…" she thought.

3 started to flicker a bit at 4, and then 4 nodded and started to project a film.

The film showed a group of people going to a library in the rain underneath an umbrella. It was clear that 3 and 4 wanted to leave.

"You guys really want to leave then?" 9 asked.

The twins nodded their heads at the same time. They then pointed to a metal disk and a metal pipe lying not to far from them.

"So that's the umbrella then." 7 said.

They nodded.

"I'll fix it up," 9 said, "7; you can either go with the twins or help me out, whatever you want to do. It shouldn't take me too long so…" 9 said.

The twins rushed off to talk to each other. It seemed like they wanted to be alone.

"I think I'll stay here, besides, we can just talk for once. I still don't know why you left us last night." 7 said. She went to pick up the metal pipe.

9 looked up. He really didn't want to tell her his thoughts and nightmares.

He walked by her to grab the metal disk.

"I just wanted some air is all, you know, some alone time." He said.

7 looked up at him as she gave him the pipe.

"9, you're not the lonely type. I know that. You've clung to me and the others the minute you met 2. Haha." She laughed lightly, she didn't want to remember the last time she saw 2.

9 looked at the metal disc and saw a small indent in the center. He could easily attach the metal pipe to it.

"You forget, I did go off on my own to find 'the source'."

He said this a bit seriously, but he was focused on his work.

7 walked over to him.

"Yes, but you had to. You didn't want to go alone, and well, I was blind to see that we did have to find it. 6 was right in the end. I should've trusted him more…" she said wistfully.

9 continued his work. He realized that this conversation was only bringing back bad memories for them.

9 wished he could've seen the group before he'd met 2, as they all were together. He really didn't know much about any of the ones who had died.

"But you know. Life goes on, right?" 7 said.

9 remained silent as he finished attaching the pipe to the disc. He continued to look down.

"That may be, but why does it go on? Life has returned to the earth. I really don't know why we're still here. Do you 7?"

7 looked down at him.

"_Is this what has been bugging him_?" she thought.

"No 9, I don't. But I know not to question that, I live for the day, not the future. That's why I took the twins and left 1. He only saw the future, and never saw the present."

7 said. She walked back to the bed area to grab her skull-met and knife.

9 leaned the make-shift umbrella against the side of the overhanging.

"_She never really knew the extent of what he'd gone through, had she?"_ 9 thought. 9 hadn't agreed with 1, not in any respect, but he had seen that 1 had been through a lot more than they had. Well, after he died anyway. They hadn't seen eye to eye while 1 was alive.

9 got up and walked over to the bed.

7 had just finished putting her skull-met on.

"Enough talk of my thoughts; let's go find where the twins have gone off to. They'll be happy to move on from here." 9 smiled.

7 grabbed her knife. She pushed her skull-met up.

"They may be, but I'm not looking forward to getting wet." She smiled too.

"_I guess I'm out of trouble for now."_ 9 thought. _"But I'll have to be more careful in the future…" _he thought this as he walked out of the overhanging with 7 and the make-shift umbrella.

* * *

Meanwhile, the twins were having a discussion away from 7 and 9.

"_4, we have to find out more."_ 3 flickered.

"_I know 3, but this is very exciting news, I mean, who knew_!" 4 flickered.

The twins had found a very interesting discovery in the library. They wanted to return to their original area where they had lived with 7 to look in the Scientist's book.

After all, they wanted to find out more about the soul-placing process. It interested them very much.

"_4, I wish the other two would just try and listen to what we are trying to say for once."_ 3 flickered slowly.

"_I know, 3, but they weren't designed for that. 7 was designed to defend us, and 9 to save us. The small bits we saw from the Scientist's diary should have already told you that."_ 4 flickered.

"_Well, yes, 4, but as we saw with the others, it wasn't always that straightforward. 1 was designed to protect us, but he left injured ones behind, not to mention he sent 2 out to scout hoping he wouldn't come back. 2 was designed to inspire us, and that was true. I was designed to define us, and you were designed to teach us. This was also true. I am still attempting to figure ourselves out, with your help of course. Your video capabilities allowed us to teach the others of the past."_ 3 flickered.

"_I think you're forgetting some of us, 3."_ 4 flickered lightly.

"_I was getting to that."_ 3 flickered_. "5 was designed to guide us, and although he was good with maps and scouting, he fell under the shadow of 1. 6 was designed to lead us, and 1 overshadowed him. In the end, 9 was the only one to believe his claims… Of course, we believed him, but we didn't go with 9."_ 3 flickered. He seemed embarrassed.

"_We needed to protect the information 3, its ok. 9 still found the 'source' after all."_ 4 smiled. Her brother would tend to get ashamed of things they hadn't done in order to protect the information they had gathered.

"_I guess you're right 4. Oh! And lastly, 8 was designed to guard us, and he did, but he ended up blindly loyal to 1, and he was used as a bully… He would rip up our books."_ 3 flickered angrily.

One reason that the twins had left 1's group was because of this fact. 8 tended to enjoy ripping pages from books. After the twins had left, he had picked on 6 and his pictures. 6 wanted to leave, but he needed his ink, and he couldn't take it with him.

"_I guess you're right, 3."_ 4 flickered. _"I think that by now 7 and 9 should be done making the umbrella. Time to go back to the big overhanging, good thing too, this little overhanging is too small."_

4 straightened up. She hit her head on the rock ceiling.

"_Ouch."_ She flickered.

"_You alright, 4?"_ 3 flickered.

"_I'm fine – let's just go back to 7 and 9." _

4 looked outside.

"_Oh wait! Here they come!"_ 4 smiled.

The twins walked out from underneath the overhang.

7 and 9 rushed over to them with the 'umbrella'.

"You two shouldn't walk so far away, we almost didn't find you." 7 laughed.

3 and 4 flickered at each other. They looked at 7 and 9 innocently.

9 shrugged.

"Alright, just try and warn us next time, ok? I know the robots are gone but you know there could always be something running around…" 9 said. He stopped for a second though.

3, 4, and 7 looked at him. 9 was looking off into the distance.

"What's wrong?" 7 asked. The twins flickered nervously.

"I thought I heard something… Come on; let's go back to the area where you and the twins used to stay." 9 said.

"Alright." 7 said. She looked back at where 9 had looked, but then walked next to 9 again.

The twins huddled under the umbrella as well. They just wanted to get to the library.

Overhead, a small, fly-like robot-bug buzzed. It had a small stinger. It watched the stitch-punks walk off, and then flew away.

It seemed as though not all the robots had been destroyed.

Well, the tiniest ones had survived anyway.

* * *

**Note:** 3 and 4's thoughts/conversations are only able to seen/heard when away from the others. And I do think 3 is male, and 4 female. It won't have much impact on anything though, just don't like calling them 'it' and 'them'.


End file.
